Everything Partners
by RenkonNairu
Summary: Hordak wants to do something romantic for Entrapta like getting her flowers. ...So he invades Plumeria to get said flowers.


Disclaimer: I do not own She-Ra or its related characters. All is the property of Noelle Stevenson, Dream Works Animation, Netflix, NBCUniversal Television Distribution, Filmation, Larry DiTillo, and J. Michael Straczynski.

(A/N: This is part of the Entrapdak Secret Santa Gift Exchange hosted by niuniente on Tumblr. My giftee was roseybeano. Their request, "Hordak tries to do something cheesy romantic for Entrapta (like getting chocolates, roses, etc), Hordak and Entrapta do a slow dance, or Entrapta makes Hordak a private messaging device (like a phone)". I started off with the roses angle, but sometimes stories write themselves and this kinda ran off in another direction from what they asked for. Hope it's still cheesy romantic, and I hope they like it.)

**Everything Partners **

Strands of prehensile hair ghosted over the exposed circuitry of his exoskeleton. Entrapta deftly making adjustments to its inner workings. Recalibrating fluid and electrical flows, realigning loose tubing, cleaning out particles and particulates. It was routine maintenance, not an upgrade, but when it was done, Hordak felt like a whole new person.

Again.

He always felt like a whole new person whenever Entrapta adjusted his armor. Just like he felt like a whole new person when she first made it for him.

Entrapta just made him feel new.

"That's that!" Those spider-silk thin tendrils of hair began replacing the outer casing of the armor, snapping and locking the plating into place. Secure, but more importantly, strong. Inside and out. Powerful. Entrapta made him powerful.

And safe.

More importantly, Entrapta made him feel safe.

He wanted her to be with him always. Forever. Not as an underling or a subordinate. She was his… Lab Partner.

Partner.

Equal.

It had been years since they sent Catra to the Crimson Waste with Scorpia, and they never came back. He and Entrapta hadn't worked on the portal project in years. That was the whole reason Entrapta began working with him in the first place. She no longer had a reason to stay.

But Hordak didn't want her to go. He wanted his Lab Partner to be his Everything Partner. Lady of the Horde, co-ruler of the Fright Zone, and whatever other titles they might acquire together.

He just didn't know how to make this desire known.

How did the natives of this world propose permanent partnerships to one another?

He needed to do some research. As Entrapta would say, he needed to collect data.

If he were still with the real Horde, the Horde Empire, outside of Despondos, out in real space, Hordak would have begun with a simple search on the extranet using the keywords of the planet, her species, and rituals of partnership and proposals. But he was not out in real space, he did not have the resources of the Empire at his disposal, and Hordak was also fairly certain that Etheria did not have a singular unifying digital information network. That left… asking people…

Of all his Force Captains –and his subordinates who's names he knew- Hordak did not think he could ask any of them. Perhaps he could have felt… safe enough asking Force Captain Scorpia. But Scorpia went with Catra into the Crimson Waste and the two of them never returned.

That was several years ago.

Now his Force Captains were a non-verbal reptilian named Rogelio, a surprisingly practical and capable Etherian human named Lonnie, and the inept and submissive Kyle (to this day, Hordak had no idea how that boy got to be a Force Captain in the first place, he certainly hadn't given the promotion).

Rogelio was the best option. At the very least, since he could not speak, he could not tell anyone else that Lord Hordak, leader of the Horde, ruler of the Fright Zone, Warlord terrorizing Etheria, and just all around Bad Guy wanted his long-term live-in Princess to be his life-long live-in Princess.

Rogelio's 'advice', however, was not so easy to understand. Because the reptilian could not speak, he could not vocalize his council for Hordak. There was a great deal of awkward growing, and animated gesturing with his arms. After standing through half a pageant of pantomimes and feral sound effects, the dark lord of the Horde concluded he needed a translator.

Kyle proved to be a little more proficient in the language of Rogelio.

There was more gesturing. A few confused pauses as Kyle asked the reptilian to repeat a few grunts. Finally, the boy's eyes flashed with recognition. "Oh… okay." Then Kyle turned back to Hordak. "He's saying proposals usually come with a gift. A token of affection."

Hordak raised a pale baled brow.

Rogelio heaved an exasperated sigh. He was mentally exhausted from this.

Kyle, however, was still fresh-faced and new to this bizarre game of 'help Lord Hordak come up with how to propose to his live-in Princess'.

"Why don't you get her a bouquet of her favorite flower." Kyle suggested. "I bet she hasn't seen any since she came here. Flowers don't grow in the Fright Zone."

Hordak doubted Entrapta had a favorite flower. But gifting her with something that could not be found in the Fright Zone was a suggestion that did have merit. Proof that he could get her anything she wanted, eve if it was something that did not exist in the Fright Zone naturally. Flowers… Plumeria had plenty of flowers...

…

The invasion of Plumeria was going better than expected.

Hordak went along with Force Captains Rogelio and Kyle. He could not trust the selection of a token for Entrapta to subordinates. He wanted to select and pick the items himself.

Roses. Red roses. Kyle assured him that in the 'language of flowers' red roses meant exactly the feelings he wanted to convey to Entrapta.

Being restrained by two of Force Captain Kyle's soldiers, Princess Perfuma blinked with mingled rage and disbelief. "That's what this was all about! You invaded my Queendom just so you could pick a few flowers!?"

Hordak lifted a single red rose to his nose, holding it delicately between his talons to avoid the thorns. It had a distinct scent. One that sounded vaguely reminiscent of fragrances in the body wash Entrapta favored. His subordinates' suggestion was better than they realized. Entrapta would love these… roses.

Looking over the deep red petals at the prisoner Princess, Hordak flashed Perfuma a devilish smile. It was just a few flowers to her. But to him, for Entrapta, it was so much more…

Then, former-Force Captain Adora showed up with the rebels from Brightmoon, transformed into She-Ra, then things kinda went sideways for Hordak…

…

He returned to the Fright Zone angry, exhausted, in pain all over, exoskeleton glitching, but still clutching his bouquet of flowers.

His bouquet of crumpled, bent, and slightly singed roses, with petals missing.

Hordak threw the 'bouquet' in the waste bin. The idea had been a good one, but the items themselves were not fit for his Lab Partner.

He was exhausted. His body needed a wash –and the standard dust bath did not seem adequate enough. His armor needed to be repaired and serviced. And Hordak was pretty sure he just discovered that he is allergic to pollen.

Entrapta's hair gliding over his bare skin as she unsnapped the plates of his armor was like a soothing balm to his nerves. He ran a finger through the prehensile strands, marveling at how they twitched in response to his light touch. It was hair, but still as sensitive as fingertips. Entrapta could feel his touch. She intertwined strands of her hair with his fingers. It was as close to 'holding hands' as they ever got.

"Clearly the operation in Plumeria was not successful." She began. Entrapta was always very careful never to use the word 'failure' when speaking to him. "But I'm not sure I was ever clear on the objective. I never picked up any signals for First Ones tech in that Queendom. But then, I haven't been doing as many scans as I used to. Did you pick something up I missed?"

Unconsciously, her eyes flicked to the portal. A project neither of them had worked on in many years. Hordak sent Catra to the Crimson Waste with Force Captain Scorpia and neither of them ever came back. Entrapta never got the source of the illusive First Ones signal she picked up. They hit a stonewall with the portal, got distracted by other projects and just sort of… stopped working on it.

Now they were Lord of the Fight Zone, and Princess of Dryl. Two allied sovereigns in a stalemate against the Princess Alliance.

No one would go so far as to call it 'peace'. But there hadn't been a significant battle between the two sides in many years. (Discounting his recent failure in Plumeria.)

"My endeavors in Plumeria were not in reference to any old projects." He assured her. Then hesitated. Then lifted her hair to his face, pressing his lips to the prehensile strands in a chase kiss. Such intimate affection between them was rare, but not unheard of. In fact, it had become much more common in recent years.

In response, another strand of hair caressed behind his ear and down the side of his neck, carful to go around his ports instead of over them. She was always mindful of his physical limitations, even while being intimate. Especially while being intimate.

Entrapta hovered around him as she dabbed gently around his ports with sterile alcohol, and patted at irritated patches of skin with ointment to ease the inflammation.

"Did you tell me about a new project?" She asked. One strand of hair stretching across the room to grab at her most recent recorder. She scrolled through the recordings, playing short clips of her own voice narrating various improvements to the Fright Zone, better water filtration, more sanitary waste management, energy sources with low environmental impact, more efficient shipping between the Fright Zone and Dryl, etc. But nothing from him about a new project that involved invading Plumeria.

Hordak reached a hand up over her hair and shut the recorder off.

"It was… a private project." Hordak confessed.

"Oh." Entrapta blinked. Of course, they had individual projects. Things that were just their own and did not collaborate on. Force Captain Lonnie informed Entrapta that it was important for people to maintain their autonomy, even in long term committed relationships –especially in long term committed relationships. She improved efficiently and overall infrastructure of the Fright Zone, and he designed and planned weapons that never got used because they were in a stalemate. But Entrapta thought they always told each other about their individual projects. "I see."

She began to pull away.

Hordak grabbed her hand with his. Her real hand, not more hair. He rarely touched her directly unless she initiated it first. Entrapta had some tactile sensitivities and it was occasionally easy to over stimulate her and make her uncomfortable. Hordak was fine with this, physical displays and casual touches were near non-existent among the clones of Horde Prime. He was not used to being touched either. A direct contact –from either of them- was reserved for significant moments, and significant moments only.

"I-" He began, unsure exactly of what he even wanted to say. "I am not used to this." He confessed, fully aware that she did not know what 'this' was supposed to be. "I am not sure of what I am supposed to do…"

Entrapta held his hand. Reciprocating. That was a good sign.

And she hadn't lowered her mask over her face. That was an even better sign. She was confused, not hurt.

She did huff, however. "Well, you can't do much with your exoskeleton off." She informed him. "Just try to relax while I get this fixed up."

She pulled away, this time, Hordak let her go.

He sat, in almost the same spot he was in the first time she told him 'imperfection is beautiful', and watched her hair dance over the dented plates of his armor. Prying off the exterior shielding, she examined the circuitry underneath.

Watching Entrapta work, Hordak couldn't help the sigh of admiration.

"I want you to be with me. Always." He blurted out spontaneously.

Looking up, Entrapta lifted her welding mask and blinked at the non-sequitur. "Well, we can't be together always, always." She informed him. "Eventually, one of us will have to use the toilet. Then there's all those meetings you have with your Force Captains that aren't really relevant to my work so I don't go to them. And there's my business in Dryl that you don't accompany me on. Oh! And we'll eventually have to sleep. Unless, you wanna start sharing a bedroom."

"Yes." Hordak nodded.

"Huh?" Entrapta blinked again, not understanding.

"I would like our partnership to become more… all encompassing. And, permanent." He was unsure if this was acceptable. He had no idea what he was doing. This was not how he planned it. And he did not have his token of the red roses to give her. He was in uncharted territory, piloting without a map. …And yet, he did not stop. "That's what the invasion of Plumeria was. I wanted to ask you this with a bouquet of flowers, as a token. To show you that I can acquire whatever you might want. That you have no reason to leave and you will never want for anything. I want to… provide for you…"

"That's not necessary." Entrapta informed him. "I've already got everything I need right here, and if there is something else I need, I can pick it up from Dryl." A pause. "Why would you think I'd leave?"

"I…" He faltered, unsure what to think. Everyone he ever admired –or even just sorta kinda trusted for that matter- rejected him eventually. His Brother, Horde Prime cast him out. Shadow Weaver betrayed him, escaped prison, and conspired with his enemies. Force Captain Adroa defected only hours after her promotion. When he banished Catra, Scorpia went with her. Why wouldn't Entrapta leave too?

"Are you going somewhere?" She asked.

Hordak cast a glance at the dust-covered remnants of the abandoned portal project. "Not for the foreseeable future."

Entrapta smiled at him. "Then I'm not going anywhere either."

"So, you will remain here. With me." It was phrased as a statement, but he pitched it as a question.

"And you'll stay with me." Entrapta nodded.

Hordak could not help the smile that pulled at his lips. That was all he wanted.

…

The next day, they dismantled what was left of the portal project together. The First Ones tech was repurposed for improvements around the Fright Zone, the metal was melted down and recycled, and neither of them ever worried that the other might become dissolution and leave ever again.

They were partners.

Not just Lab Partners. Everything Partners.

For life.

…

END


End file.
